To the Expositor:
My family and I are loyal and frequent users of the Chi-Cheemaun ferry service. I was not pleased when I heard that the first sailing was cancelled. But I was not surprised. You see, it seems that the folks at the Owen Sound Transportation Company (OSTC) were busy doing their job informing, requesting and lobbying the owners of the docks, Harper’s feds, that there was a serious problem. In fact there was a public meeting last fall in South Baymouth during which many of the factors behind the current sailing delay were highlighted. How many months ago was that? Not two. So, as I said, it wasn’t a surprise. What was surprising was MP Larry Miller’s insistence that all this had just happened and suggesting that the OSTC was contriving this (see his previous comments on the issue).
My question to Mr. Miller: where have you been? What have you been doing? Two months have passed according to Mr. Miller’s timeline and yet even during that time nothing has been done about the bumpers.
Mr. Miller is supposed to be representing the voters and their concerns and issues to Ottawa. Instead he is representing Ottawa/Harper to us. The problem with the Harper feds (the owners) doing anything at all with the bumpers means they have to recognize there is a problem: low water levels. But for this government to admit to this problem also means they have to recognize that an important, if not a crucial factor is the strange weather we have been experiencing over the past decade—you know, global warming. It’s not a giant bathroom plug at the bottom of Lake Huron! And of course, according to the Harper feds, that weather factor is fiction. And so they would rather dither than do, and of course saving federal money in the meantime. Meanwhile the management and staff at OSTC have to take the brunt of Mr. Miller’s false bravado and finger pointing? Yes, something was not right if Mr. Miller and his boss, the Harper feds, did nothing for almost a year. It didn’t just happen.
Here’s a thought—listen to the voters, listen to the people who use and need this service. Represent us to Ottawa.
Marzio Apolloni Port Elgin
